Date - 28 October 2007 Day - Sunday Start - 0900 Dukes Cut Lock End - 1 mile above Shifford Lock on the River Thames 1540 hrs.
Last night was not as noisy as I had feared. The trains stop running quite early on in the evening and the road noise just became a continuous low drone from the back cabin. We set off at 9 am this morning and locked down onto the Thames via Dukes Cut and then headed up stream towards Lechlade. Almost as soon as we were on the Thames the wind picked up and it started to rain a bit. At Eynsham lock we had a pump out just below the lock, EA are still only charging £6 for a pump out card. As we entered the lock it started to rain harder but eased a bit as we left. We then stopped to fill with water and as we left it started chucking it down, I thought I would drop back down river a bit and moor up to put the rain shelter up. I started to back up quite nicely with the bow coming over as I rounded the slight bend, then the wind caught the bow and there was nothing I could do except change my plan and do a 180 degree turn and head down river. Straightening up and continuing up stream was not an option and luckily the river was wide enough to get the boat round. we continued down stream and round the bend just above Swinford toll bridge. here the navigation channel as very narrow du to silting on the bend, I tucked the bows in behind the silt bar in the slack water and the stern came round easily in the main flow, I then edged back from the bar and continued back upstream where I had intended to go all the time. We stopped for lunch about a mile above Northmoor Lock on the right hand side at 13-15 for about an hour before continuing upstream. As we approached Shifford lock it started chucking it down again, we carried on for another mile just above the weir stream when we decided to moor on the left bank for the night, it was now 15-40 and very overcast, we would only have had about another hour of daylight now the clocks have changed. While we have been moored here we have seen a raft of about 50 geese in the river in front of us and watched a Barn Owl working its way across the field, hovering and then pouncing. It came within about 20 yards of the boat before continuing along the river bank upstream where it was joined by another Barn Owl and they continued off hunting together. -- Brian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Visit this site and help save our waterways http://www.savethewaterways.org.uk/
